iJ^bTJ 


THE     NORMAL    SCHOOL 
QUARTERLY 

Series  18  October,  1919  Number  73 


THE  READING  ASSIGNMENT  IN  ELEMENTARY 

GRADES 


GRACE  ARLINGTON  OWEN 

Teacher  of  Reading 


DISCIPLIN:    THE  CULTIVATION  OF  SELF-CONTROL 

BY 

MARY  A.  BELL 
Training  Teacher,  Seventh  Grade 


Enterd  August  18,  1902,  at  Normal,  Illinois,  as  second-class  mail  matter  under 
Act  of  Congress  of  July  16,  1894 


N.  B. — Any  (eacher  in  Illinois  may  get  the  Normal  School  Quarterly  regularly  by  sending  exact 
name  and  address,  and  by  giving  prompt  notis  of  any  change  of  address. 

When  a  vord  has  t  vo  authorized  forms  of  spelling,  the  shorter  form  is  used. 

(Printed  by  Authority  of  the  State  of  Illinois) 


NORMAL 

SCHOOL 

QUARTERLY 

Publisht  by  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University,  Normal,  III. 

Series  18 

October,  1919 

Number  73 

THE  READING  ASSIGNMENT  IN  ELEMENTARY 

GRADES 


Grace  Arlington  Owen 
Teacher  of  Reading 

WHAT  DOES   READING  MEAN  TO  YOU? 

Suppose  we  talk  together  for  a  few  minutes  concerning  this  subject  set 
down  in  all  elementary  courses  of  study.  What  is  your  first  reaction  when 
reading  is  mentioned  ?  Probably  to  some  it  means  a  delightful  hour  spent 
with  a  favorit  book.  To  others  it  means  making  children  pronounce  with 
fluency  the  words  of  a  school  primer.  This  person  thinks  of  methods — 
sentence,  phonic,  combination,  or  whatever  holds  the  center  of  the  pedagog- 
ical stage.  That  person  identifies  reading  with  reciting  a  "piece"  before 
admiring  or  suffering  friends.  Stil  others  think  of  the  subject  as  confined 
only  to  the  schoolroom,  many  placing  it  only  in  the  reading  class  where  the 
recitation  is  chiefly  oral;  while  some  stil  think  of  reading  as  teaching  a 
child  "his  letters." 

Happily  there  are  those  who  realize  that  reading  is  the  gateway  to 
education ;  that  wben  you  teach  a  child  to  read  you  are  teaching  him  to 
think.  Without  this  last  view  of  reading,  the  subject  passes  quickly  into 
ded  formalism.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  reading  is  not  wel  taught  in  the 
elementary  school  today.  There  ar  deflnit  and  good  reasons  for  this.  Read- 
ing is  a  difficult  subject  to  teach.  The  opposit  opinion  prevails,  however,  in 
many  minds.  You  hear  it  said,  "Anyone  can  teach  reading."  That  is  one 
of  the  troubles  current  today.  Anyone  and  everyone,  whether  he  has  a 
vision  or  not,  teaches  reading.  Why  is  the  teaching  of  reading  difficult,  you 
ask?  Because  teaching  a  pupil  to  think  demands  not  only  that  the  teacher 
himself  be  able  to  think,  but  that  at  the  same  time  he  must  be  able  to  com- 
prehend the  workings  of  the  pupil's  mind  and  lead  him  to  grasp  logically 
and  clearly  the  main  ideas  first,  and  then  the  details  of  the  subjectmatter 
under  consideration. 


2  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

Reading  can  never  be  an  exact  subject,  as  is  mathematics,  because  the 
personal  element  must  enter  in  when  the  teacher  studies  the  individual 
pupil's  mind.  This  brings  about  a  difficulty  in  the  reading  class.  What 
shal  be  done  there?  What  shal  the  pupils  study?  To  what  end  shal  the 
work  lead  ?  How  shal  the  teacher  know  whether  he  is  making  progress 
with  the  pupil,  or  simply  "putting  in  time"?  Inability  to  answer  these 
questions  brings  about  lamentable  results. 

PERSONAL  CONFESSIONS 

During  the  years  1918-19  six  hundred  students  in  the  Department  of 
Expression  at  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University,  all  of  them  either 
teachers  or  prospectiv  teachers,  wrote  as  a  part  of  the  class-work  in  method 
their  personal  experiences  in  reading.  The  subjects  wer  such  as  "How  I 
Lernd  to  Read,"  "How  I  Read  Silently,"  "How  I  Use  a  Dictionary," 
"How  I  Use  a  Library,"  "How  I  Teach  Reading." 

From  these  papers  we  take  some  of  the  comments.  A  country-school 
teacher  of  three  years'  experience  wrote:  "I  never  knew  reading  ment  any- 
thing but  reading  aloud.  I  was  so  busy  with  all  the  different  classes  that 
when  it  came  to  reading  I  sent  the  children  to  the  back  of  the  room,  told 
them  each  to  read  aloud  a  paragraf ,  and  I  sat  at  my  desk  and  corrected 
arithmetic  papers." 

A  fourth-grade  teacher  in  a  large  town  said :  "I  don't  know  what  to 
do  in  reading  class.  The  children  can  read  some,  but  ar  not  interested.  All 
I  can  tel  them  is  to  'take  three  pages  in  advance  for  tomorrow.'  ' 

A  high-school  graduate  who  had  taught  one  year  in  the  upper  grades 
made  this  statement:  "I  didn't  do  much  of  anything  in  reading.  There 
didn't  seem  to  be  anything  to  study.  We  never  did  anything  but  look  up  a 
few  words,  and  not  many  of  them." 

Dozens  of  students  wrote  they  never  wer  taught  anything  about  silent 
reading ;  they  did  not  know  that  was  a  part  of  reading. 

Many  said,  "I  don't  like  to  read  because  I  don't  like  to  look  up  words." 

An  outstanding  feature  of  a  majority  of  the  600  papers  was  the  view 
that  reading  in  the  elementary  school  is  confined  to  reading  aloud  from  a 
reader.  Apparently  there  was  no  conception  of  reading  as  thinking,  as 
study.  Neither  did  the  idea  obtain  that  reading  must  be  done  in  all  sub- 
jects and  should  be  pusht  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  the  classroom.  In 
our  normal-school  classes  we  ar  obliged  to  spend  hours  teaching  students 
how  to  get  the  thought  from  simple  selections.  This  ability  should  have 
been  theirs  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  grade. 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary  Grades  3 

From  experiments  and  experiences  such  as  the  foregoing,  and  from  our 
own  efforts  to  teach  reading  to  every  age  from  grade  one  to  the  members  of 
the  Teachers  College,  we  believ  teachers  need  help  particularly  with  the 
assignment. 

THE   ASSIGNMENT  THE  CRUX  OF  THE   READING   PROBLEM 

Perhaps  you  may  never  hav  considerd  just  what  this  term  assignment, 
which  rolls  so  glibly  from  our  lips  in  school,  means.  Literally  it  means 
designating  to  another  person  something  definit  to  do.  There  is  our  key 
word,  definit;  and  yet  reading  is  generally  taught  in  a  blindly  indefinit 
manner.  The  assignment  must  possess  certain  characteristics.  It  must 
arouse  the  enthusiasm  of  the  child  for  his  lesson.  It  must  giv  him  some 
concrete  things  to  do  in  the  preparation  of  that  lesson,  and  it  must  require 
that  he  think.  Not  long  ago  a  normal-school  student,  upon  being  askt  about 
the  assignment  given  to  a  class  visited  in  the  training  school,  said :  "They 
did  not  hav  any  assignment.  There  wer  no  questions  written  on  the  board." 
Thus  he  showd  his  understanding  of  the  assignment.  Naturally  the 
assignment  varies  in  the  different  grades  and  according  to  the  materials 
used. 

THE  ASSIGNMENT  IN  THE  PRIMARY  GRADES 

In  the  primary  grades  the  necessity  of  teaching  the  child  that  oral 
speech  can  be  represented  by  writing  and  printing  causes  us  to  spend  the 
greater  part  of  our  time  in  teaching  what  is  commonly  cald  "the  mechanics 
of  reading."  The  best  possible  way  to  establish  this  association  between 
speech  and  the  written  or  printed  forms  is  thru  oral  work.  Therefore  the 
reading  lesson  in  the  first  three  grades  becomes  a  study-recitation,  and  the 
assignment  is  the  teacher  s  questions  and  directions.  Hav  you  ever  herd  a 
primary  reading  lesson  conducted  in  this  manner:  "Susan,  read  the  first 
line.  Read  the  next  line,  Mary.  That  was  very  good,  Mary,  read  it 
again.  Read  the  next  line,  Charlie."  And  so  on  thruout  the  lesson?  Un- 
fortunately many  lessons  ar  taught  in  such  a  manner. 

This  poor  method  of  assignment  is  due  to  the  teacher's  lack  of  educa- 
tional vision.  He  does  not  grasp  the  great  fact  that  the  child  is  mastering 
this  association  between  sound  and  symbol  in  order  to  enter  the  gateway  to 
education.  Nothing  could  be  more  stupid  or  mechanical  than  teaching, 
"The  windmill  went  round  and  round,"  "I  see  Kitty,"  or,  "I  am  Jack," 
to  six-year-olds,  if  it  wer  not  for  the  illuminating  truth  that  the  child  is 
gaining  a  power  that  wil  open  to  him  continually  thruout  life  avenues  of 
thought.    This  stage  of  reading  is  a  necessary  means  to  an  end.    The  child 


4  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

is  lerning  to  use  the  tool,  as  it  wer,  with  which  he  wil  work.  If  this  view 
of  reading  is  not  held  by  teachers,  the  reading  work  is  dry,  uninteresting 
and  often  becomes  memorized  renditions  of  primer  or  reader  that  has  been 
red  over  and  over. 

Altho  different  methods  of  teaching  reading  ar  in  vogue,  the  tendency 
is  towards  a  combination  of  the  sentence,  the  word,  and  the  phonic.  How- 
ever, methods  come  and  go,  and  children  lern  to  read  by  them  and  in  spite 
of  them.  The  problem  of  the  assignment  remains  no  matter  what  particu- 
lar method  is  used. 

Pre-Primer  Work. — In  order  to  question  and  direct  the  children  in  a 
beginning  reading  lesson  so  that  they  wil  be  working  mentally  during  their 
study-recitation,  the  teacher  must  be  prepared.  In  the  case  of  some  rather 
technical  method  requiring  manual,  charts,  and  cards,  the  teacher  should 
master  the  form  of  presentation  devised  and  giv  the  method  a  chance;  for 
there  is  no  possibility  of  judging  a  method  justly  unless  it  has  been  given  a 
fair  trial.  But  the  majority  of  teachers  in  Illinois  have  no  books  requiring 
a  certain  particular  method.     Accordingly  we  suggest  the  following  pro- 

1.  An  oral  study  to  giv  the  child  such  associations  as  wil  cause  the 
words  to  take  on  meaning. 

2.  Play  the  story,  dramatize  it  simply,  so  that  action  and  word  wil 
be  suited  to  each  other. 

3.  Develop  on  the  board  words,  phrases,  and  sentences  so  that  the 
child  may  acquire  skil  in  realizing  that  the  crooked  marks  hav  meaning. 

This  pre-primer  work  wil  take  several  days.  The  exact  number  must 
be  determined  by  the  proficiency  of  the  children  and  the  demands  of  the 
supervisor  and  the  county  superintendent.  In  many  schools  of  Illinois  chil- 
dren ar  given  a  book  the  first  day,  and  reading  is  attempted  thru  a  garbled, 
memorized  effort.  They  should  not  be  given  a  book  until  they  ar  ready  for 
it,  and  then  only  for  short  periods  so  that  it  may  not  lose  its  charm.  The 
sentences  used  for  pre-primer  work  may  be  taken  from  the  primer  and 
reshaped  somewhat,  but  keep  to  the  vocabulary  of  the  book. 

Attention  to  Difficult  Words. — The  teacher  should  look  over  the  first 
thirty  or  forty  pages  of  the  primer  and  make  a  word-list  (if  one  is  not  found 
in  the  book),  keeping  strict  watch  on  the  varying  difficulties  of  the  different 
words.  Naturally  action  words  and  names  of  objects  ar  always  the  easiest. 
Such  words  as  was,  here,  some,  is,  and  any  word  about  which. a  clear,  child- 
like association  cannot  be  bilt  ar  the  hard  ones.  These  require  constant 
dril  by  means  of  devices  that  thru  an  appeal  to  the  fanciful,  the  whimsical, 
or  the  instinct  of  play  make  the  word  mean  something  to  the  child.    Two 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary  Grades  5 

examples  may  suffice  to  illustrate  this  point,  one  showing  how  to  fail,  the 
other  showing  how  to  succeed.    In  each  case  the  difficult  word  was  some. 

Upon  entering  a  classroom  we  found  a  young  woman  nervously  trying 
to  teach  a  large  group  of  beginners  a  so-cald  reading  lesson.  Dril  on  words 
was  in  progress.  The  teacher  was  pointing  to  a  word  and  saying  in  a  high- 
pitcht  voice,  "Now,  children,  what  is  this?"  "Come,"  "some,"  shouted  the 
children. 

"No,  no,  children,  how  many  times  must  I  tel  you  this  is  not  come, 
this  is  some.  Children,  this  word  is  some,  over  there  is  come.  Now 
remember,  and  don't  say  come  for  some.  Now  what  is  the  word  again?" 
"Come" ,  "some" ,  "come" ,  replied  the  children.  If  utter  confusion  had  been 
desired,  the  mode  of  teaching  would  hav  been  perfect. 

In  another  classroom,  one  day,  a  little  girl  said,  "May  I  giv  you  some 
paper?"  In  a  few  minutes  another  child  announst,  "We  ar  going  to  make 
some  pictures  of  Peter  Rabbit."  Then  the  teacher  said,  "The  children 
want  to  tel  you  a  joke."  Thereupon  a  member  of  the  C  class  said,  "We 
didn't  know  some,  so  today  we  ar  using  it  all  the  time.  We  ar  trying  to  see 
who  can  use  it  the  most." 

Summary  of  Pre-Primer  Procedure. — The  first  point  in  the  pre-primer 
work,  the  oral  story,  must  be  given  by  the  teacher,  and  then  the  children 
should  tel  it  to  her  and  to  each  other  until  the  thought  becomes  one  with 
that  of  the  child's.  The  story  need  not  be  long.  Often  it  is  only  a  rime  or 
a  jingle.  But  it  must  be  communicated  to  the  children  thru  speech  first. 
They  hav  the  sounds  of  the  words.  Next  comes  action  thru  play  or 
dramatizing  the  little  story  which  is  for  the  purpose  of  stil  more  strengthen- 
ing the  associations  with  the  spoken  form. 

The  last  step  is  the  development  on  the  board  of  sentences,  phrases, 
and  words.  This  is  where  actual  oral  reading  begins.  It  can  be  seen  that 
in  pre-primer  work,  we  hav  (1)  sound,  the  appeal  to  the  ear;  (2)  action, 
an  appeal  both  to  the  ear  and  the  power  of  doing;  (3)  visualization.  True, 
one  may  not  linger  the  same  amount  of  time  on  each  step,  but  the  three  ar 
present  in  all  early  work.  At  times  steps  (1)  and  (2)  may  be  reverst, 
action  coming  first,  and  sound,  or  speech,  second ;  but  visualization  remains 
the  third  step. 

How  the  Third  Step  Divides. — Within  a  few  days  the  idea  of  the 
association  of  speech  with  the  written  forms  is  establisht,  and  then  the  need 
is  for  constant  practis  in  recognizing,  or  interpreting,  the  sentences,  words, 
and  phrases  as  symbols  of  ideas  and  thoughts.  The  sub-divisions  of  step 
three  ar — 

1.     Teaching  the  recognition  of  the  sentence  in  the  story. 


6  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

2.  Having  the  sentences  red  in  answer  to  the  teacher's  questions. 

3.  Teaching  recognition  of  phrases  and  words  as  parts  of  sentences. 

4.  Reading  the  story  as  a  whole. 

Visiting  the  first  grade  one  morning  in  early  winter  we  found  the 
children  reading  this  lesson : 

One  day  there  was  a  big  windmill. 

It  went  round  and  round. 

It  gave  water  to  the  horses  and  the  cows. 

It  gave  water  to  the  sheep,  too. 

One  day  it  said,  "I  will  stop ! 

I  will  not  go  round  and  round." 

So  the  windmill  was  still  all  day. 
the  horses  the  sheep  the  windmill 

the  cows  a  wind 

The  children  had  come  to  school  for  the  first  time  in  September.  The 
teacher  presented  the  lesson  in  the  following  manner : 

She  told  the  story  of  the  windmill  that  grew  tired  and  would  not 
work.  The  story  was  written  on  the  board  and  she  called  brief  attention 
to  the  sentences  as  she  told  it,  saying,  "Now  think  of  what  you  are  going  to 
hear."  Pictures  of  the  horses,  the  cows,  and  the  windmill  wer  shown. 
Then  a  lively  game  ensued  when  the  pictures  wer  placed  under  their  names, 
"the  horses,"  etc.  One  boy  playd  he  was  the  wind  and  blew  with  all  his 
might,  and  he  found  wind  on  the  board — a  hard  task.  From  this  linking  of 
action  with  visualization  much  enthusiasm  was  created.  It  was  easy  to 
dramatize  round  and  round,  and  with  the  class  thoroly  arousd  the  more 
difficult  words  and  phrases  such  as  It,  One  day  there  was,  One  day  it  said, 
"I  will  stop"  wer  taught. 

Then  the  children  wer  redy  for  the  books  and  the  third  step,  that  of 
visualizing  sentences,  words,  and  phrases  from  the  story.  Due  to  the  board 
work  there  was  not  much  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  sentences  in  the  story. 
They  red  in  response  to  the  teacher's  questions,  "What  was  there  one  day?" 
"What  did  it  do ?"  "What  else  did  it  do?"  "Did  it  give  water  to  some- 
things else?"    "What  did  it  say ?"    "What  happened?" 

After  this  there  was  a  short  dril.  The  teacher  pointed  to  a  word  or 
phrase  on  the  board  and  the  children  found  it  in  their  books  and  told  her 
what  it  was.  She  then  red  the  entire  lesson  with  much  animation,  thus 
leaving  it  as  a  whole  in  the  children's  minds. 

In  this  lesson  all  the  steps  mentiond  can  be  seen.  However,  it  should 
be  understood  that  these  steps  ar  developt  gradually  and  then  united.  Be- 
ginning teachers  ask  so  frequently,  "What  shal  I  do  the  first  day  in  teach- 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary   Grades  1 

ing  reading?  What  shal  I  do  the  first  week?"  The  difficulty  is  not  with 
the  first  day  or  first  week,  but  it  is  with  the  stedy  work  week  after  week, 
which  demands  that  the  same  thing  be  done  over  and  over  but  in  different 
ways. 

Silent  Reading  frojn  the  Beginning. — Silent  reading  is  nothing  but  the 
way  an  individual  gets  thought  from  printed  or  written  forms.  From  the 
very  first  the  child's  ability  to  read  silently  should  be  cultivated.  His 
response  to  action  words  written  on  the  board  is  one  of  the  simplest  methods 
of  teaching  silent  reading.  Then,  too,  he  should  be  encouraged  to  tel  in  his 
own  words  what  he  has  red.  There  should  be  conversation  enuf  for  the 
teacher  to  know  how  thoroly  the  child  is  making  the  printed  thought  his 
own.  As  the  children  gain  power  over  the  printed  language  and  ar  able  to 
use  their  books,  the  reading  lesson  may  be  said  in  a  general  way  to  con- 
sist of — 

1.  Word  drils,  both  review  and  new  material, 

2.  Silent  reading, 

3.  Oral  work,  both  reproduction  of  what  is  red  and  actual  reading  of 
the  story. 

Some  Ways  of  Arousing  Enthusiasm. — Beyond  question  it  is  the 
assignment,  that  is,  the  questions  and  directions  of  the  teacher,  that 
determins  the  enthusiasm  of  the  children.  Drils  can  be  made  most  lively 
and  profitable  if  they  ar  arranged  as  games  and  with  the  spirit  of  competi- 
tion. One  instance  wil  suffice.  For  some  reason  not  discoverd,  the  word 
little  was  not  easy  for  some  pupils  of  the  first  grade.  But  the  difficulty  was 
soon  conquered,  for,  as  one  said,  "that  word  belongs  to  Frances  and  me.  We 
ar  keeping  count  to  see  how  many  times  we  know  it  when  we  see  it,  and  I 
am  aneaci." 

Again,  when  phonic  work  was  started  much  was  done  by  placing  on 
the  board  lists  of  words  beginning  with  the  same  initial  sound.  The  chil- 
dren gave  these  words  out  of  their  own  experience  and  after  dril  on  them, 
all  of  each  word  except  the  first  letter  was  erased  and  dril  on  the  simple 
phonogram  followed.  In  this  way  the  step  from  the  word  to  sounds  of 
individual  letters  may  be  bridged. 

It  is  often  advantageous  to  keep  a  list  of  words  on  the  board,  either  the 
entire  vocabulary  that  the  children  know  by  both  sight  and  sound  or  the 
difficult  words  of  the  working  vocabulary.  Word  dril  is  necessary  to  make 
the  child  so  familiar  with  the  mechanics  of  reading  that  he  is  able  to  giv  his 
chief  attention  to  the  thought.  In  word  drils,  exact  pronunciation  should 
be  insisted  upon  and  also  a  pleasing  tone  of  voice.    The  dril  may  be — 

1.     On  uncombined  words, 


8  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

2.  On  words  in  sentences, 

3.  A  skipping  about  from  word  to  sentence. 

Write  the  words  in  different  places  on  the  board.  Let  them  be  in 
hand-writing  of  different  sizes,  so  that  the  association  of  place  or  special 
form  may  not  be  cultivated.  In  writing,  care  should  be  taken  to  hav  the 
letters  of  fair  size  and  clearly  made  in  a  good,  round  hand.  There  is  no 
special  reason  for  printing  unless  you  can  print  faster  and  more  legibly  than 
you  can  write. 

A  Working  Basis  in  Phonics. — Turning  to  phonics  we  find  that  the 
child  really  needs  but  a  few  phonic  facts  as  a  working  basis  for  his  early 
reading.  If  we  ar  not  following  a  set  phonic  outline,  and  therefore  hav  the 
organization  of  the  phonic  work  ourselvs,  we  should  take  care  to  see  that 
the  phonograms  we  teach  ar  usable  in  our  reading  material.  The  State 
Course  of  Study  makes  excellent  suggestions  as  to  the  phonograms  suitable 
for  first  and  second  years.     We  should  organize  our  phonic  material — 

1.  According  to  the  phonograms  needed  in  our  reading  book, 

2.  According  to  the  difficulty  of  the  phonograms. 

We  begin  with  single  consonant  phonograms,  first  working  them  out 
from  words  in  which  they  ar  the  initial  sounds.  Among  the  easiest  conso- 
nants ar  /,  r,  s,  m,  t,  I,  p.  These  ar  easy  because  the  vocal  organs  must 
assume  definit  position  in  order  to  make  them.  Then,  too,  these  consonants 
occur  over  and  over  in  the  simple  words  of  the  primer  vocabulary. 

Phonograms  should  be  given  clearly  and  distinctly  whether  pronounst 
in  the  word  or  not,  and  after  two  or  three  single  phonograms  hav  been 
lernd,  some  such  as  at,  ing,  an,  ake,  ag,  and  ight  should  be  taught.  These, 
too,  should  be  taken  from  words.  In  conducting  the  phonic  drils  we  should 
do  wel  to  keep  this  outline  of  procedure  in  mind : 

1.  Oral  exercizes  to  train  the  child  to  hear  the  sounds, 

2.  Oral  exercizes  to  train  the  child  to  say  the  sounds, 

3.  Association  with  the  symbols, 

4.  Recognition  of  words  by  sounds  and  sound  symbols,  including 
redy  recognition  of  the  sound-group,  or  compound  phonograms. 

Above  everything,  the  teacher  should  take  time  to  hav  the  early 
steps  in  phonics  understood  thoroly.  A  large  number  of  teachers  fail  every 
year  in  teaching  reading  because  they  do  not  take  these  facts  slowly  and 
teach  the  children  to  use  them  in  working  out  new  words. 

We  come  around  once  more  to  our  original  statement  that  when  we 
really  teach  a  child  to  read  we  ar  teaching  him  to  think.  If  we  keep  this 
ideal  before  us  we  shal  do  away  with  many  of  the  evils  in  our  reading  class  ; 
particularly  shal  we  come  to  see  that  "nothing  can  be  more  dedly  to  natural- 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary   Grades  9 

ness  and  thought  than  the  common  practis  of  pointing  out  a  sentence  word 
for  word." 

WHAT  NEXT? 

We  ar  constantly  told  in  all  our  books  and  papers  about  the  character- 
istics of  each  grade.  We  know  that  the  children  must,  during  the  first  and 
second  grades,  hav  much  dril  on  the  association  of  sound  with  symbol,  and 
that  the  third  grade  is  supposed  to  gather  up  and  complete  this  phase  of 
reading.  Some  one  coind,  years  ago,  the  terms  "learning  to  read"  and 
"reading  to  learn,"  using  the  first  to  denote  the  mastery  of  the  symbol  and 
the  second  to  denote  the  use  of  this  power.  True  it  is,  that  the  child  must 
understand  what  the  symbols  or  crooked  marks  mean,  if  he  is  to  become 
educated.  This  knowledge  is  the  child's  tool  to  use  in  all  his  future  study. 
We  should  not  give  him  a  saw,  a  needle,  a  broom,  an  egbeater,  or  any 
implement  and  not  teach  him  how  to  manipulate  it,  if  we  expect  him  to  use 
it  intelligently.  Yet  we  do  exactly  that  in  reading.  The  children,  thru  the 
study-recitations  that  form  our  present  early  plan  of  teaching  reading, 
arrive  at  a  stage  where  they  hav  more  or  less  proficiency  in  understanding 
the  printed  page.  "They  can  read",  we  say;  and  often  at  this  point  in 
school,  be  it  the  third  or  fourth  grade,  there  is  a  slump  in  the  reading. 
"The  children  ar  not  interested,  they  do  not  like  it,"  we  hear.  Now  why 
is  there  such  a  condition  ?  Henry  Adams,  in  his  significant  personal  study 
of  American  life,  cald  The  Education  of  Henry  Adams,  says  education  is 
"the  mastery  of  tools,  and  we  need  so  few  tools".  How  true  that  is  in  the 
subject  we  ar  considering.  Undoutedly  when  the  child  does  not  care  for 
reading,  it  is  because  he  does  not  know  how  to  use  his  tool,  the  mastery  of 
the  symbol.  Let  us  see  what  can  be  done  for  him  in  the  assignment  as  he 
passes  from  the  primary  age  and  grade. 

ABOVE  THE  PRIMARY  AGE  AND  GRADE 

Enthusiasm  Arousd  by  the  Oral  Approach;  Vivid  Imaging;  Vital 
Association. — In  presenting  pre-book  work,  we  strest  the  first  step  as  oral  in 
the  telling  of  a  story  that  might  be  short  or  long.  Indeed,  we  believ  that 
in  every  reading  lesson  the  appeal  should  be  made  first  to  the  ear.  This 
appeal  varies.  In  assigning  a  lesson,  the  teacher  should  seek  always  to  point 
out  some  phase  that  wil  serv  to  arouse  the  pupil's  enthusiasm  for  that  which 
he  is  to  study.  This  may  be  a  comment  on  the  attractiv  pictures,  upon  the 
title,  a  few  words  of  explanation  or  reference  to  some  previous  lesson  that 
has  been  enjoyd.  Often  the  second-grade  pupils  hav  been  askt  to  look  for 
a  moment  at  the  story  they  wil  read  next  and  see  how  the  title  looks.  One 
day,  their  spirits   rose   indeed  when   they    discoverd    that    the    next    lesson 


10  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

brought  them  the  picture  of  the  story  of  the  witch  with  a  long  nose.  In 
the  third  grade,  upon  coming  to  the  poem,  "The  Leak  in  the  Dyke",  refer- 
ence was  made  to  a  Dutch  picture  that  hung  in  the  room  and  the  little  folks 
wer  reminded  of  the  supplementary  reader  they  had  once  red  that  told 
about  the  land  of  windmills.  Also  in  the  fifth  grade,  the  poem  of  "The 
Sandpiper"  was  explaind  to  the  children  by  fascinating  pictures  of  the  sea 
beach  and  reference  to  water  birds. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  class  of  normal  school 
students  recently  gave  their  association  with  this  poem,  which  occurs  so 
frequently  in  elementary-grade  reading  books.  Of  the  ten  persons  in  the 
class,  all  but  one  confest  that  they  thought  the  poem  beyond  the  compre- 
hension of  children.  Upon  inquiry  it  was  found  that  all  had  had  it  in  the 
grades.  The  majority  said  they  just  red  it  with  no  explanation.  One  even 
said  that  she  had  had  no  idea  what  a  sandpiper  was  and  did  not  hav  until 
years  after  her  first  acquaintance  with  the  poem.  All  said  that  at  the  time 
of  their  first  reading  of  the  poem,  they  had  not  even  been  familiar  with  a 
small  lake,  and  in  the  case  of  only  one  had  a  beach  been  visualized.  This 
one  student  told  of  the  great  enthusiasm  her  teacher  had  arousd  in  her  for 
the  poem  and  that  all  thru  her  later  years  of  childhood  she  had  wonderd 
about  the  safety  of  the  birds  upon  a  stormy  night. 

Again,  a  class  of  twenty-one  students  in  the  summer  school,  all  teach- 
ers or  to  begin  teaching  in  the  following  September,  wer  about  to  read  some 
poems  of  Tennyson.  In  the  assignment,  the  teacher  mentiond  a  few  sig- 
nificant facts  about  the  noted  English  poet,  and  seeing  no  responsiv  look  on 
the  faces  before  him  askt  if  anyone  there  had  ever  red  any  poem,  at  any 
time,  by  Tennyson.  Each  one  of  the  twenty-one  said  he  had  not.  The 
name  evoked  no  associations.  Yet,  upon  investigation  it  was  found  that 
every  one  in  the  class  had  red,  and  some  admitted  having  taubht  The 
Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade,  another  selection  found  in  almost  all  readers. 
Now  we  do  not  hold  a  brief  for  teaching  the  author's  name  and  date  of 
birth  and  deth,  as  was  once  the  custom,  but  we  do  say  that  with  national 
and  international  figures  it  is  wel  to  bild  up  associations  so  that  what  is  red 
may  become  vital  and  intimately  related  to  the  world  in  which  we  liv. 

Often  when  suggestions  upon  this  feature  of  the  assignment  ar  made 
to  young  teachers,  they  reply  instantly  that  they  hav  so  many  classes  and  ar 
so  busy  they  cannot  gather  information  about  selections.  We  realize  that 
teachers  ar  busy,  but  our  point  is  that  all  of  us  must  keep  mentally  alert  and 
grow  or  we  shal  fall  into  a  set,  mechanical  way  of  teaching  that  duls  the 
spirit  of  pupils  and  teacher.  We  ar  attempting  to  indicate  ways  in  which 
the  teacher  may  prepare  herself  on  the  reading  lesson  she  is  to  teach  to  boys 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary   Grades  11 

and  girls.  We  believ  firmly  that  the  teacher's  lack  of  knowing  how  to  pre- 
pare reading  lessons  is  back  of  a  large  share  of  the  poor  results  that  come 
out  of  the  elementary  schools  today. 

Thought  Getting. — So  far 'we  hav  discust  but  one  point  in  the  inter- 
mediate and  grammar-grade  assignment,  that  of  arousing  enthusiasm  for 
what  is  to  be  studied.  We  turn  to  the  chief  business  of  reading,  the  getting 
of  thought.  The  steps  in  this  ar  simple  and  definit.  We  should  teach  the 
reader  ( 1 )  to  select  in  order  and  be  able  to  giv  in  his  own  words  the  main 
points  of  what  he  has  red;  (2)  to  work  out  carefully  the  details  of  the 
selection.  The  test  of  one's  ability  to  get  the  thought  is  his  ability  to  giv  it 
in  his  own  words  in  definit,  logical  order.  However  simple  this  may 
sound  hundreds  upon  hundreds  of  children  pass  thru  our  elementary  schools 
and  cannot  giv  to  another  person  the  gist  of  what  they  hav  red  in  an 
article.  Example  after  example  could  be  drawn  from  normal-school  classes, 
where  hours  ar  consumed  in  overcoming  this  difficulty.  A  graduate  of  an 
accredited  high  school  was  askt  to  giv  a  brief  resume  of  three  chapters  of  an 
unusually  interesting  and  easily  red  English  novel.  At  the  end  of  forty 
minutes  he  had  described  haltingly  the  rosebush  by  the  gate  and  the  hat  of 
the  heroin.  Neither  description  had  any  special  bearing  on  the  movement 
of  the  story.  He  gave  as  his  excuse,  that  he  did  not  know  what  to  pick  out 
to  tel,  and  there  was  too  much  to  memorize.  The  elementary  school  should 
hav  taught  him  to  read  silently.  He  was  a  student  of  average  ability,  but 
had  not  receivd  his  due  mesure  of  instruction  in  the  elementary  school. 

In  teaching  classes  of  fifth-grade  and  sixth-grade  children  within  the 
last  three  years,  the  first  exercizes  in  silent  reading  reveald  the  inability  of 
the  children  to  answer  the  questions  askt.  The  lesson  was  conducted  upon 
this  plan : 

1 .  Direction  by  teacher. 

2.  Silent  reading  of  the  lesson  unit  as  a  whole. 

3.  Silent  reading  paragraf  by  paragraf. 

4.  Questions  to  test  the  thought-getting. 

5.  Oral  reading. 

As  the  material  was  particularly  appealing  to  the  children  and  had  an 
easy  vocabulary  there  was  no  difficulty  in  speeding  up  the  silent  reading; 
but  the  responses  to  the  questions  showd  a  disposition  to  read  as  an  answer 
any  phrase,  clause,  or  sentence  that  met  their  eyes  and  had  any  words  sug- 
gestiv  of  the  question.  It  took  days  of  definit  questioning  based  upon  the 
subject-matter  to  teach  these  pupils  how  to  connect  the  thought  of  the 
printed  page  with  the  questions.     In  the  end  excellent  results  wer  attaind. 

We  ar  too  prone  to  consider  that  because  the  child  has  some  mastery 


12  The  Nor?nal  School  Quarterly 

over  symbols,  he  can  get  the  thought  himself.  Too  many  persons  take  the 
view  of  this  "settled  crystallized"  primary  teacher  who  said  to  us  once,  "It 
is  never  too  early  to  teach  good  habits,  therefore  I  insist  upon  my  first  grade 
pupils  studying  their  lessons."  When  askt  how  she  taught  them  to  study, 
she  said,  "I  giv  them  their  books  and  tell  them  to  study."  She  was  most 
complacent  and  saw  no  fault  with  her  way. 

An  excellent  plan  to  use,  when  silent  reading  is  becoming  a  larger  part 
of  the  school  program,  is  that  of  letting  the  pupil  read  a  few  paragrafs 
aloud  and  then  giv  the  main  points,  and  later  the  details.  A  little  practis  of 
this  kind  wil  be  an  introduction  to  silent  reading  and  wil  help  to  do  away 
with  verbatim  memorizing. 

Oral  Expression  One  Test  of  Silent  Reading. — Dr.  Hiram  Corson, 
the  unusual  teacher  of  literature  at  Cornell  University,  used  to  demand  as 
entrance  test  for  certain  of  his  Shaksperean  courses  that  the  aspirant 
read  aloud  to  him  from  Shakspere.  Upon  the  reading  Dr.  Corson  made  his 
decision  as  to  whether  the  individual  was  wel  enuf  equipt  for  the  course. 
Many  students,  reading  with  much  flourish  and  noisy  execution  wer  amazed 
to  be  refused,  but  Dr.  Corson  made  oral  reading  to  be  the  mesure  of  the 
understanding  of  the  poet.  Good  oral  reading  demands,  first  of  all,  good 
silent  reading,  and  is  invariably  a  test  of  the  thinking.  The  test  is  not  made 
generally  by  teachers  or  there  would  not  be  so  much  slovenly  oral  reading. 

Written  Assignments. — As  we  come  to  the  time  when  written  assign- 
ments ar  given  to  the  children,  we  should  see  that  they  follow  the  steps  we 
hav  mentiond  for  getting  thought.  Assignment  carries  with  it  the  idea  of 
definitness,  and  our  questions  and  directions  should  hav  this  quality.  They 
should  not  only  help  the  child  get  the  meaning  of  the  story  or  poem  red  but 
should  endevor  to  push  the  lesson  beyond  the  schoolroom  and  into  the 
everyday  work. 

During  the  study  by  a  fourth-grade  class  of  the  story,  Ali  Baba  and 
the  Forty  Thieves,  questions  wer  askt  to  develop  the  idea  of  the  crafty 
cunning  of  the  Oriental  character.  This  was,  of  course,  after  the  main 
outline  of  the  story  had  been  masterd.  Various  instances,  drawn  by  the 
children  from  the  adventures  of  Ali  Baba,  were  given  to  show  traits  of 
character  such  as  shrewdness,  kindness,  deceitfulness,  generosity,  and  the  like. 
Then  they  were  askt  for  their  personal  opinions  on  Ali's  character.  They 
wer  to  prove  their  assertions  by  references  to  his  deeds.  There  was  much 
interest  and  amusement  over  his  exploits  and  Ali  was  being  made  quite  a 
fascinating  story-book  hero,  when  a  young  man  of  ten  arose  and  said,  "He 
was  dishonest  and  a  liar.  He  would  be  cald  a  crook  today."  Instantly 
there  was  a  heated  discussion.    Nearly  all  the  members  of  the  class  hastend 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary   Grades  13 

to  say  they  did  not  believ  people  should  act  now  in  the  way  that  Ali  did, 
but  that  was  the  way  the  people  did  then.  To  this  the  young  man  replied, 
"It  was  very  wrong  anyway  and  he  was  a  thief,  too,  just  as  much  as  the 
robbers.  They  had  stolen  the  stuff  he  found  in  the  cave.  What  business 
had  he  to  take  it  for  himself  and  his  relativs?" 

The  others  retorted  that  Ali  Baba  did  not  know,  nor  did  anyone,  to 
whom  the  welth  belonged.  "What  could  he  do  with  it  but  take  it?"  said 
one  child.    The  answer  was  illuminating : 

"He  could  hav  used  it  for  everybody  in  the  town,  not  just  for  his  own 
family." 

"How?"  interrupted  a  boy. 

"Well,  he  could  hav  bilt  a  swimming  pool,  or  Y.  M.  C.  A.  or  a 
library." 

Shouts  of  laughter  from  the  unthinking  greeted  this  statement.  Un- 
daunted, the  speaker  continued, 

"I  know  they  didn't  hav  those  things  in  the  Arabian  Nights  but  he 
could  hav  used  the  money  and  jewels  for  whatever  they  had  then  that  was 
for  everybody." 

The  class  capitulated  before  this  vision  of  community  spirit  and  we 
venture  to  say  that  this  was  rather  a  successful  lesson  for  any  grade,  and  to 
hav  achievd  it  in  fourth  grade  was  wel  worth  doing. 

At  another  time  the  fifth-grade  class  wer  hearing  poems  red  to  them 
by  their  teacher.  The  poems  wer  of  stirring  adventure  and  more  difficult 
than  the  fifth  grade  would  be  able  to  read  for  themselvs  for  some  time.  The 
teacher  red  the  most  dramatic  parts  of  the  poem  and  told  in  her  own  words 
the  remainder.  She  prefaced  her  reading  with  adequate  explanations  and 
incidentally  used  the  reading  as  a  means  of  disciplin.  The  children  enjoyd 
the  poems  intensely.  Whenever  their  lessons  wer  wel-prepared  and  moved 
quickly  she  red  at  the  end  of  the  period  for  a  few  minutes.  She  did  not  tel 
the  children  her  device  but  intuitivly  they  discoverd  it  and  strong  efforts 
wer  made  to  hav  "good  lessons."  The  poem,  Herve  Riel,  by  Browning  had 
been  red  and  told.  This  poem  falls  into  clear-cut  divisions  most  easily.  It 
had  been  like  a  continued  story  and  much  speculation  had  occurd  as  the  out- 
come. You  may  remember  that  Herve  Riel  was  a  Breton  coasting-pilot 
who  was  able  to  save  the  French  fleet  because  he  knew  every  rock,  inlet,  and 
channel  of  the  bay  upon  which  he  had  spent  most  of  his  life.  In  Brown- 
ing's poem  Herve  Riel  is  told  to  name  his  own  reward,  ask  of  France  any- 
thing.   He  asks  leave  to  go  home  and  see  his  wife  and  child. 

This  he  askt  and  this  he  got, 
Simply  this  and  nothing  more. 


14  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

Great  was  the  disapproval  of  the  children  who  had  pland  all  manner 
of  glorious  rewards.  Soon,  however,  one  boy  said,  "I  think  it  was  a  good 
deal  to  go  home.  It  would  be  if  you  had  ever  been  away  to  war  and  didn't 
know  when  you  could  come  back." 

This  quieted  the  class  and  all  agreed;  but  when  another  member  of 
their  number  arose  and  said,  "I  don't  think  he  did  so  much  after  all,  that  he 
ought  to  be  rewarded.  He  did  just  what  he  ought  to  hav  done.  He  didn't 
need  anjrthing  for  it,"  there  was  a  tumult  of  indignation.  Discussion 
caused  this  second  boy  to  explain  his  opinion  with  the  following  illustration, 
which  certainly  shows  thinking. 

"I  mean  he  did  what  he  ought  to  hav  done.  Suppose  a  boy  drives  a 
grocery  wagon  and  drives  a  grocery  wagon  for  a  long  time.  One  day  some- 
body needs  him  to  drive  that  grocery  wagon  because  something  has  hap- 
pened. It  isn't  any  harder  for  him  to  drive  the  grocery  wagon  that  day 
than  any  other  day;  and  yet  if  he  hadn't  driven  it  his  best  every  day,  he 
couldn't  drive  it  wel  when  he  is  needed  to  do  it  for  something  special." 
Unpoetical  ?  Yes ;  but  the  very  essence  of  the  poem  had  been  translated  into 
terms  of  the  boy's  life.  Driving  a  grocery  wagon  in  a  small  Illinois  town 
lookt  to  a  fifth-grade  boy  as  quite  a  job  for  summer  vacations. 

But  enuf  of  illustrations.  Reading  in  the  schools  exists  for  such  pur- 
poses as  hav  been  described.  Not  all  children  wil  like  the  same  story,  the 
same  poem,  the  same  subject  any  more  than  all  people  like  one  business  or 
profession.  Yet  all  children  like  to  read  when  they  read  to  make  judgments 
about  the  conduct  of  life.  All  the  processes  of  the  reading  lesson  ar  for  this 
end,  to  teach  the  child  to  make  judgments.  It  is  a  crime  when  thru  ignor- 
ance or  carelessness  we  let  this  matchless  tool,  reading,  become  useless.  If 
your  class  cannot  read,  if  they  do  not  like  to  read,  begin  with  yourself. 
Reading  is  a  personal  subject ;  you  can  not  depend  on  the  answer  in  the 
book,  but  upon  the  answer  in  the  mind  of  the  child. 

Word  Mastery. — Perhaps  it  may  hav  occurd  to  you  to  wonder  why 
we  hav  said  nothing  so  far  about  the  meanings  of  words  when  so  many 
persons  think  looking  up  words  the  only  possible  assignment  in  reading. 
We  wel  remember  visiting  an  eighth  grade  where  no  other  assignments  wer 
given  from  day  to  day  but  such  as,  "Look  up  the  third  word  from  the  end 
of  line  39."    No  wonder  that  reading  was  a  failure  in  that  room. 

Word  mastery  offers  one  of  the  most  instructiv  and  attractiv  features 
of  the  reading  lesson.  It  should  hav  a  definit  place  in  the  recitation  period, 
be  taken  up,  discust  and  then  used  in  thought-getting.  The  pernicious 
habit  of  reading  a  line  or  two  and  stopping  to  ask  about  the  meaning  of  the 
word  should  be  eradicated  just  as  we  would  dig  up  weeds  in  the  garden. 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary  Grades  15 

The  teacher  and  the  children  should  discuss  the  new  words  and  the  mean- 
ings, learning  how  to  work  out  meanings  from  the  use  of  a  word.  Then 
efforts  to  use  the  words  in  conversation  and  oral  and  written  composition 
should  be  made.  When  the  time  comes  that  a  reading  book  with  a  glossary 
is  used,  this  should  be  explaind  to  the  children  before  they  ar  told  to  use  it. 
Over  and  over,  grown  students  tell  us,  "I  never  had  training  in  using  the 
dictionary  or  in  looking  up  words."  Consequently  we  should  early  make 
the  mastery  of  words  plesant  to  the  child.  There  is  a  time  when  keeping 
a  notebook  or  making  lists  is  a  novelty.  The  children  like  to  do  it  because 
it  makes  them  feel  older.  These  feelings  should  be  used  when  we  plan  our 
devices.  An  excellent  device  that  we  saw  working  in  the  second  grade  was 
a  notebook,  made  and  bound  in  bright  red  paper  for  handwork.  It  was  cald 
a  dictionary  but  in  it  wer  kept  growing  lists  of  words  that  wer  being  studied 
for  meanings  and  spellings.  The  delight  of  the  children  over  this  scheme 
for  word  mastery  was  unusual  and  it  was  soon  apparent  that  the  books  wer 
a  successful  device. 

"In  human  language  all  words,  except  proper  names  and  some  excla- 
mations are  signs  of  generalized  ideas,  cald  notions."  In  teaching  children 
words,  let  us  as  teachers  use  our  dictionaries  and  look  up  ordinary  words 
for  which  we  hav  only  one  of  its  meanings.  This  may  seem  radical  to  some 
teachers  who  hav  exprest  themselvs  to  us  as  not  owning  a  dictionary,  or  as 
looking  up  only  new  words.  Too  often  we  let  the  children  go  with  imper- 
fect meanings  for  simple  words  because  as  we  sometimes  say  for  an  excuse, 
"We  know  the  meaning,  but  no  good  synonym  for  the  word."  We  do  not 
know  the  meaning  of  a  word  unless  we  do  know  a  synonym  for  it,  or  can 
express  its  meaning  in  some  way.  Recently  an  entire  normal-school  class 
faild  to  giv  any  adequate  meaning  for  the  simple  word  bleak.  A  harder 
word,  but  one  used  with  widely  differing  meanings,  disciplin,  was  defined 
by  a  group  of  teachers  as  "spanking  a  child  when  he  is  bad  in  school." 
There  wer  twenty-eight  in  the  class  where  this  definition  was  advanst.  No 
objection  to  it  could  be  secured  until  a  timid  voice  said,  "I  hav  herd  of 
military  disciplin,  what  would  that  mean?"  The  inherent  meaning  of  the 
word,  training,  had  never  been  reveald  to  any  one  there,  yet  some  in  that 
class  had  been  employd  in  the  schools  of  the  State  for  fourteen  years. 
Knowing  the  meaning  of  a  word,  using  it  correctly,  and  of  course  pro- 
nouncing it  accurately  ar  essentials  of  word  mastery. 

Dictionary ,  Card  Catalog,  and  Encyclopedia  Work. — "The  only  direc- 
tion I  ever  had  was  look  it  up  in  the  dictionary.'  I  did  not  know  how  to 
use  the  dictionary,  and  when  by  chance  I  found  the  word  I  wanted  I  did 
not  know  which  definition  to  take  or  how  to  pronounce  the  word  from  the 


16  The  Nonnal  School  Quarterly 

re-speld  and  diacritically  markt  word."  This  was  the  written  statement  of 
an  excellent  student  who  had  masterd  the  use  of  the  dictionary  herself 
during  high-school  days  and  realized  the  handicaps  she  had  sufrerd  while  in 
the  grades.  Perhaps  no  greater  servis  can  be  done  a  child  in  our  elementary 
grades  than  to  teach  him  how  to  use  a  dictionary  effectivly.  He  should  lern 
first  the  principle  of  alfabetizing  thoroly,  the  use  of  indexes,  a  sufficient 
supply  of  diacritical  marks  as  the  keys  to  the  sounds,  the  guide  words,  what 
is  given  about  a  word  in  the  dictionary,  and  how  to  use  the  information. 

Knowledge  of  the  alfabet  (since  the  alfabet  is  necessary  for  using  the 
dictionary,  card  catalogs,  and  indexes)  should  be  part  of  the  child's  in- 
formation when  dictionary  work  is  started  in  either  the  fourth  or  fifth 
grade.  If  notebooks  ar  kept  for  word  lists,  they  may  be  alfabetized  and 
thus  the  children  wil  lern  to  arrange  and  locate  by  alfabetical  position.  In 
this  way,  it  is  often  possible  to  teach  the  diacritical  markings  by  arranging  a 
notebook  alfabetically  and  by  writing  in  the  various  markings  of  each 
vowel  and  consonant  with  illustrativ  words  taken  from  the  reading  ma- 
terial. Preparation,  such  as  this,  makes  dictionary  lessons  clear.  See  that 
the  children  buy  good-sized  dictionaries,  of  recognized  merit,  from  the  pub- 
lishers of  either  the  Standard  or  Webster  dictionaris.  See  that  the  books 
hav  type  large  enuf  to  be  red  easily  and  ar  of  the  last  edition. 

In  order  to  familiarize  the  pupils  with  their  new  book,  dictionary  races 
may  be  made  full  of  life  and  information.  These  ar  conducted  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner:  the  class  sit  in  position,  their  dictionaries  closed  on  the 
desks  before  them.  At  first  a  letter  may  be  written  on  the  board  and  the 
first  row  opening  to  that  letter  with  the  least  turning  of  leavs,  wins.  This 
exercise  soon  teaches  the  children  what  letters  ar  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
book,  in  the  second  quarter,  and  so  following.  After  they  can  open  rapidly, 
with  no  aimless  turning  of  leavs,  to  any  letter,  try  words,  developing  them 
a  letter  at  a  time  as  g-i-r-a-f-f-e.  This  brings  the  arrangement  of  the  words 
on  the  page  to  their  attention.  Then  the  other  features  of  the  dictionary 
may  be  taught  gradually.  Just  as  with  phonics  the  secret  is  to  giv  this  in- 
struction slowly,  stedily,  and  thoroly. 

Also,  let  the  children  examin  the  large  dictionary  and  become  familiar 
with  it  as  a  friend  not  as  a  book  suggesting  drudgery.  In  the  intermediate 
grades  is  the  place  to  teach  the  mechanical  arrangement  of  a  book.  It  is 
absurd  to  see  high  school  graduates  who  ask  "What  page?"  insted  of  using 
the  index  to  find  an  assignment  subject.  A  study  of  books  found  in  the 
average  classroom  wil  furnish  much  valuable  information.  A  sixth-grade 
class  made  booklets  in  their  drawing  hour.  Into  these  wer  put  stories,  the 
product  of  the  language  periods.     Desiring  to  make  these  booklets  as  per- 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary   Grades  17 

feet  as  possible  the  pupils  examind  all  the  teacher's  desk  copies,  brought 
books  from  the  library  and  from  home  and,  as  a  result  of  their  efforts,  made 
illustrations,  put  in  a  glossary,  an  index  of  chapters,  wrote  chapter  hedings, 
titles  for  illustrations,  made  a  table  of  contents  and  wrote  a  dedication. 
Such  exercizes  ar  informational  and  interesting  to  intermediate-grade  chil- 
dren. Later  on,  we  see  endless  waste  of  time  because  this  mechanical 
information  has  not  been  gaind. 

Acquaintance  with  an  encyclopedia  and  with  a  card  catalog  should 
begin  in  the  intermediate  grades,  and  by  the  time  the  eighth  grade  is  com- 
pleted the  boy  or  girl  should  hav  a  working  knowledge  of  such  elementary 
helps  in  finding  material. 

Types  of  Reading  Material. — During  the  fourth  and  fifth  years  of 
school  the  reading  ability  of  the  child  should  widen  gradually  until  as  he 
approaches  the  upper  grades,  his  reading  material  is  both  of  a  literary  and 
an  informational  character.  The  former  wil  include  the  poems  and  selec- 
tions and  books  from  the  relm  of  literature  that  he  reads.  The  latter  wil 
embrace  special  articles,  newspaper  clippings,  magazine  articles,  books  of  a 
supplementary  typ£,  stories  of  adventure,  invention,  biografy  and  current 
activities.  An  upper-grade  class  that  had  lagd  behind  in  their  reading  work 
became  deeply  interested  in  making  airplanes  in  their  manual  training  work. 
The  resourceful  teacher  seized  upon  this  interest,  had  them  bring  all  the 
articles  they  could  about  airplanes,  searcht  the  library  for  magazine  articles, 
dipt  newspapers,  and  had  a  most  enthusiastic  reading  class  that  soon  brought 
their  work  to  the  average  needed  for  the  grade. 

Often  when  advising  young  teachers  to  encourage  the  use  of  all  sup- 
plementary, informational  material,  and  especially  when  urging  the  need  for 
knowing  how  to  use  the  dictionary,  the  cyclopedia,  the  index  of  a  book  and 
a  card  catalog,  we  are  told:  "There  is  no  library  in  our  town."  A  library 
is  not  a  bilding,  it  may  be  the  small  number  of  worn  books  on  one's  window 
sill;  but  the  knowledge  of  how  to  use  the  books  any  school  has  leads  to  a 
wider  use  of  books,  for  the  fundamental  principles  ar  the  same  in  all 
volumes  of  reference.  Frequent  neglect  to  use  the  material  before  us  is  a 
common  fault,  and  we  should  know  and  understand  our  equipment — not  do 
as  was  done  in  one  school  which  we  visited  last  year,  namely  put  the 
dictionaries  in  a  dark,  dusty  hall  closet  because  they  took  up  so  much  room 
on  the  teacher's  desk. 

ORAL  READING 

There  is  no  reason  for  reading  aloud  except  to  read  for  a  purpose.  This 
purpose  may  be  to  communicate  an  idea,  a  description,  the  details  of  a  pic- 
ture, to  suggest  a  character,  to  prove  a  point,  to  convince  and  to  entertain. 


18  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

Notwithstanding  this  fact,  which  is  as  obvious  as  that  talking  should  be  for 
the  purpose  of  saying  something,  much  oral  reading  is  permitted  in  the 
school  that  has  no  reason  back  of  it.  This  should  never  be.  The  pupil 
should  be  askt  or  told  to  show  or  do  certain  definit  things  in  his  reading. 
One  of  the  best  oral  reading  lessons  in  the  upper  grades  that  we  ever 
heard  was  one  in  which  the  children  had  imagind  the  selection  to  be  a 
motion  picture,  had  divided  it  into  reels,  and  wer  reading  aloud  the  different 
flashes  of  each  reel.  This  had  taken  thought  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  but 
it  had  paid.  The  reason  that  dramatization  is  such  an  aid  to  oral  reading 
is  because  it  demands  characterization  and  makes  the  reader  imagin.  He 
has  a  definit  problem  to  solv  by  his  reading.  If  we  would  keep  in  mind 
when  having  an  oral  reading  lesson  that  the  pupil  should  do  two  things, 

1 .  Read  to  some  one,  and 

2.  Read  for  a  definit  purpose  which  he  has  in  mind, 

we  should  not  hav  great  difficulty  in  accomplishing  good  results  by  our  efforts. 

Reading  to  some  one  wil  demand  that  posture,  position  of  book,  look- 
ing at  your  hearers  and  making  them  understand  you,  be  considerd.  The 
point,  reading  for  a  known,  definit  reason,  we  hav  dwelt  upon,  but  if  we 
think  of  it  in  terms  of  a  problem  that  is  to  be  set  before  the  pupil,  we  wil 
never  say,  "Read  on,"  that  fatal  direction  of  such  frequent  recurrence  in 
our  classrooms.  Insted,  we  wil  say,  "Read  so  that  I  may  see  just  how  that 
cottage  lookt" ;  "Read  so  I  shal  be  frightend" ;  and  similar  statements. 

Undoutedly  comments  from  the  class  ar  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  an 
oral  reading  lesson.  Pupils  should  be  traind  to  criticize.  They  should  lern 
that  true  criticism  is  not  fault-finding,  that  it  is  the  pointing  out  of  the 
strong  and  weak  places  in  the  reading  and  suggesting  how  the  reading  may 
be  improved.  Neither  pupil  nor  teacher  should  ever  make  such  general, 
indefinit  statement  as,  "Some  of  it  wasn't  very  good."  "I  think  he  could 
read  it  again  and  do  better."  "I  thought  it  was  good."  "I  didn't  see  any- 
thing the  matter  with  it."  Insted,  listen  to  a  few  constructiv  comments 
gleand  from  different  grades : 

Second  grade. — "The  witch's  part  wasn't  red  so  that  she  was  ugly 
enuf,  and  the  princess  was  not  made  pretty  enuf." 

Third  grade. — "She  was  not  sorrowful  enuf  when  the  mouse  said,  'I 
lost  two  of  my  children  last  night.'  " 

Fifth  grade. — "I  could  see  just  how  the  page  lookt  and  that  was  why 
I  liked  the  reading." 

Seventh  grade. — "You  should  makg  us  see  Arthur  pulling  the  sword 
out  at  once  because  he  is  the  true  king." 

Not  long  ago  we  visited  an  intermediate-grade  where  oral  reading  was 


The  Reading  Assignment  in  Elementary   Grades  19 

in  progress.  Each  child  advanst  to  the  front  of  the  room  and  red.  At  the 
close  of  each  reading,  a  forest  of  hands  waved.  Then  came  comments  such 
as  these :  "He  said  the  instead  of  a" ;  and  dozens  of  other  trifling  criticisms 
wer  made  with  no  reference  to  thought.  How  any  one  could  hav  red  aloud 
under  such  conditions,  is  hard  to  imagin.  The  teacher,  who  conducted 
twenty  minutes  of  such  a  nerv-racking  performance,  made  this  excuse:  "I 
know  that  isn't  a  good  way  to  teach  reading,  but  that  is  the  only  way  I  can 
keep  the  children  stil.  They  behave  so  badly."  Surely  the  price  paid  for 
"keeping  them  still"  was  entirely  too  high. 

Articulation,  Enujiciation,  and  Pronunciation. — An  outgrowth  of  the 
primary  phonic  problem  is  found  in  the  problems  of  articulation  and  enuncia- 
tion. These  matters  should  be  considerd  as  drils  and  like  all  drils  should  be 
kept  away  from  the  reading  proper.  The  function  of  a  dril  is  to  remove  me- 
chanical obstacles  from  the  reading,  and  drils  should  occur  before  the  silent 
or  oral  reading  begins.  Drils  for  review  may  occur  at  the  end  of  a  lesson. 
If  mechanical  difficulties  wer  always  removed  before  reading  aloud  we 
should  hav  an  end  of  grown  students  stopping  before  a  word  and  saying,  "I 
don't  know  how  to  pronounce  it."  Such  a  performance  is  disgraceful,  and 
yet  it  is  evidently  permitted  or  there  would  not  be  such  a  widespred  preva- 
lence of  the  fault.  Good  oral  reading  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  in  every 
grade  of  the  elementary  school  wil  accomplish  far-reaching  results  with  the 
pupils.  Authorities  agree  that  the  greatest  aid  in  lerning  to  read  that  a 
parent  can  giv  a  child  is  to  read  aloud  to  him.  So  in  school,  the  teacher 
should  read  to  the  pupils,  regularly  and  from  varied  material.  He  need  not 
read  long  at  a  time  but  he  must  consistently  establish  good  standards  of 
reading. 

CONCLUSION 

Reading  is  at  the  base  of  all  studies;  it  is  such  a  glorious  gateway  to 
mental  development  and  improvement  that  we  should  be  delighted  to  hav 
the  privilege  of  helping  boys  and  girls  pass  thru  into  "relms  of  gold."  Our 
aim  should  be  to  send  them  from  the  eighth  grade  of  the  elementary  school 
traind  to  read  silently,  accurately,  and  efrectivly;  traind  to  read  the  first 
books  of  reference ;  equipt  with  information  about  the  mechanics  of  a  book ; 
able  to  read  aloud  plesantly  their  mother  tung  and  by  that  marvelous  gift, 
the  human  voice,  communicate  the  thought  of  the  printed  page  to  others. 

"Where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish."  Where  there  is  no 
vision,  there  wil  be  no  reading  taught.  The  way  to  make  readers  of  our 
students  is  to  begin  with  ourselvs.  Reading  demands  scholarship,  the  thoro 
understanding  of  one's  subject,  the  wide  acquaintance  with  many  subjects, 


20  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

because  reading  is  not  confined  to  one  study  but  is  a  part  of  all  studies. 
There  was  never  a  time  when  America  needed  her  children  wel  taught  as 
she  does  today  in  this  period  of  reconstruction.  The  boys  and  girls  of  this 
country  must  be  taught  to  think,  and  the  teachers  must  be  students  them- 
selves, if  they  ar  to  meet  the  opportunity  that  is  theirs. 


Disciplin:      The  Cultivation  of  Self-Control  21 

DISCIPLIN:  THE  CULTIVATION  OF  SELF-CONTROL* 


Mary  A.  Bell 
Seventh-Grade  Training  Teacher 

Fellow  Teachers: — My  first  impulse  after  I  had  been  requested  to 
talk  to  you  on  disciplin  was  to  go  to  the  library  and  read  on  the  subject. 
But  on  second  thought  I  decided  that  the  basis  of  what  seems  to  you  to  be 
a  success  in  my  school  government  goes  farther  back  than  pedagogical  and 
psychological  principles.  It  is  found  in  my  interpretation  of  fundamental 
laws  of  life  itself ;  and  my  interpretation  of  these  laws  depends  upon  three 
things:  inheritance,  experience,  and  pedagogical  training.  My  presentation 
to  you  therefore  must  be  from  personal  experience.  I  shal  state  a  few  of 
these  laws  and  giv  concrete  illustrations  of  ways  in  which  I  use  them  in  my 
daily  work. 

One  of  these  fundamental  laws  of  life  is  The  way  of  the  transgressor 
is  hard,  and  the  wages  of  sin  is  deth.  I  firmly  believ  this.  And  I  preach 
it  every  week  of  the  year — often  every  day  if  opportunities  arise ;  but  not  in 
these  words  to  be  sure.  I  shal  giv  a  few  illustrations  to  show  how  I  teach 
children  the  meaning. 

I  often  say  to  my  class  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  "I  make  but  one 
rule."  Of  course  the  class  is  pleasd.  I  then  explain  that  rule,  "Do  right," 
and  sometimes  keep  it  on  the  board  a  week  or  so.  Then  I  explain  my  mean- 
ing by  saying  that  they  hav  perfect  freedom  as  long  as  they  do  not  abuse  the 
privilege.  I  let  them  leav  their  seats,  leav  the  room,  or  whisper,  as  long  as 
they  do  right  and  use  good  judgment.  When  they  do  wrong  in  these  lines 
— as  they  do  many,  many  times — I  try  to  get  them  to  see  the  wrong,  then 
giv  them  another  chance;  for  in  my  room  ignorance  does  excuse  one.  If  a 
child  after  knowing,  again  does  wrong  in  these  ways,  his  privilege  is  taken 
away.  Sometimes  because  of  the  wrong  doing  of  one  or  of  a  few,  a  privilege 
is  taken  away  from  the  whole  class. 

This  brings  out  another  fundamental  law  of  life :  The  innocent  suffer 
on  account  of  the  guilty.  I  tel  them  it  does  not  seem  fair,  but  it  is  a  law 
that  works  all  through  life  as  truly  as  the  law  that  all  that  goes  up  must 
come  down.  I  get  them  to  see  that  their  fathers,  good  men  and  true,  are 
taxt  to  support  criminals  in  jails  and  penitentiaries;  they  also  ar  taxt  to 

*Owing  to  her  evident  success  in  disciplin,  Miss  Bell  was  requested  to  explain  to 
the  faculty  of  the  Training  School  how  she  got  such  results.  Her  colleags  hav  per- 
suaded her  to  permit  the  publication  of  the  paper  just  as  it  was  red  to  them,  believing 
it  will  be  of  great  value  to  the  many  teachers  who  read  the  Normal  School  Quarterly. 


22  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

pay  the  sheriff  and  policemen  to  make  bad  people  behave.  Children  redily 
see  this,  and  soon  begin  to  blame  the  wrong  doer  insted  of  the  teacher. 
When  that  happens,  the  teacher's  troubles  in  disciplining  children  lessen 
greatly  because  group  disapproval  helps  much.  It  is  a  mighty  factor  in  be- 
havior with  children  just  as  it  is  with  adults. 

I  try  in  other  ways  to  get  the  class  to  see  that  the  way  of  the  transgres- 
sor is  hard  and  the  wages  of  sin  is  deth ;  for  example,  if  a  child  does  not 
work,  and  lern,  the  punishment  for  this  wrong  is  self-inflicted.  His  pun- 
ishment comes  because  he  does  not  know,  does  not  hav  the  approval  of  the 
group,  does  not  hav  the  plesure  of  carrying  home  a  good  grade  card,  does 
not  find  school  plesant.  I  need  not  inflict  punishment  if  the  child  sees  he  is 
punishing  himself.  Every  day  in  school  there  ar  cases  that  wil  illustrate 
this  principle  if  the  teacher  thoroly  believs  in  it  and  gets  the  children- to  see 
it.  It  takes  much  explaining,  to  be  sure,  but  one  can  "get  it  across"  to 
almost  every  boy  and  girl. 

If  a  boy  misbehaves  while  I  am  out  of  the  room,  I  try  to  show  him  and 
the  class  that  he  thinks  he  was  having  a  good  time,  thinks  he  was  happy; 
but  he  punisht  himself,  for  he  wasn't  really  having  fun,  wasn't  really  happy. 
It  is  the  boy  who  workt  and  lerned  while  I  was  out  of  the  room  who  was 
really  having  the  good  time,  was  really  happy.  Sometimes  I  ask  for  a  vote 
— "Who  was  happier  while  I  was  out  of  the  room — Richard,  who  was 
studious,  and  wil  thereby  lern,  get  good  grades,  please  his  teacher  and 
mother,  and  grow  up  to  be  an  intelligent  man,  or  John,  who  was  naughty, 
pulled  the  hair  of  the  girl  in  front  of  him,  and  lost  all  of  these  things?"  It 
is  sometimes  surprising  how  soon  the  class  can  get  the  point. 

Sometimes  I  hav  heard  a  boy  say  something  like  this:  "But  Richard 
didn't  laugh,  and  John  did."  Then  must  come  an  explanation  that  real 
happiness  does  not  always  make  one  laugh.  Neither  does  laughing  always 
indicate  true  happiness.  Then  I  ask  him  if  an  Indian  is  happy  when  he 
tortures  a  white  man. 

"But  he  laughs.  Would  you  laugh?  No,  you  know  more.  You  ar 
more  civilized.  But  would  Richard  laugh  if  he  pulled  a  girl's  hair  and 
made  her  cry?    No,  he  knows  more.     He  is  too  civilized." 

After  an  explanation  of  this  sort  no  external  punishment  by  the 
teacher  is  given.  It  is  not  necessary.  I  seldom  punish,  but  get  the  boys  and 
girls  to  see  that  the  punishment  comes  to  them  regardless  of  what  I  do. 
Children  sometimes  feel  that  if  the  teacher  punishes  them,  they,  in  some 
way,  hav  atoned  for  their  sin.  But  I  want  them  to  see  that  their  punish- 
ment comes  in  what  they  hav  lost,  to  see  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  deth,  and 
the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard.     They  cannot  get  away  from  this  any 


Disciplin:     The  Cultivation  of  Self -Control  23 

more  than  they  can  get  away  from  the  law  of  gravity.  A  ball  wil  come 
down  if  it  goes  up.  So  wil  the  transgressor  find  his  way  hard  sooner  or 
later.  There  ar  many  ways  to  impress  this  on  the  minds  of  boys  and  girls, 
and  it  must  be  imprest  from  many  angles. 

My  next  principle  is  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  hart,  so  is  he.  Again, 
let  me  say  I  truly  believ  this.  I  am  wholly  sincere  when  I  teach  this  to  my 
children.  I  try  to  get  them  to  see  that  if  they  ar  good  because  I  am  watch- 
ing or  because  I  may  punish,  they  ar  not  good  at  all.  I  am  the  one  who 
should  receiv  credit  for  goodness,  not  they.  If  they  want  to  be  bad,  but  ar 
afraid,  then  they  ar  bad,  altho  others  may  not  know  it.  That  is  the  differ- 
ence. They  ar  bad,  but  ar  keeping  it  a  secret  from  others,  or  think  they  ar. 
The  child  must  behave  from  the  inside  out,  not  from  the  outside  in,  in 
order  to  get  self-control.  In  other  words,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within 
one,  not  outside.  If  you  can  get  children  to  see  this,  each  wil  be  his  own 
policeman,  and  the  teacher  wil  be  free  from  much  (tho  not  all)  of  police 
duty,  and  can  devote  the  whole  time  to  teaching. 

I  want  my  class  to  see  distinctly  the  difference  between  police  duty  of 
a  teacher  and  teaching.  To  get  them  to  see  this  I  say,  "You  ar  not  being 
your  own  policeman  today,  so  I  shal  hav  to  be  one.  But  I  cannot  teach  wel 
if  half  my  mind  is  on  police  duty."  There  ar  times  when  I  purposely  do 
absolutely  no  teaching.  I  assign  lessons  thus :  "Take  the  next  two  pages." 
I  answer  no  questions.  At  recitation  time  I  giv  no  explanations.  I  keep 
my  entire  attention  on  police  duty,  and  I  assure  you  there  is  order — military 
order.  A  little  of  that  is  sufficient  for  a  class.  They  soon  see  the  difference 
between  policing  and  teaching.  I  also  say  to  my  class,  "If  I  hav  to  watch 
you  while  I  teach  the  other  class,  you  ar  allowing  the  other  class  just  half  a 
teacher.  Is  that  fair?"  They  get  the  point.  Each  child  must  think  rightly 
in  his  heart;  then  he  is  his  own  policeman.  For  a  child,  like  a  man,  becomes 
what  he  thinks. 

My  next  principle  is  also  an  old,  old  one.  It  is  /  am  my  brother  s 
keeper.  Every  child  has  a  right  to  be  traind  to  see  that  he  really 'is  his 
brother's  keeper.  Children  must  be  taught  not  to  try  to  beat  each  other,  but 
to  try  to  help  each  other.  This  brings  in  the  big  question  of  competition. 
If  we  ar  always  going  to  try  to  beat,  what  shal  we  do  when  there  is  no  one 
to  beat  ?  If  we  work  hard  during  Good  English  Week  to  beat,  what  shal 
we  work  for  in  English  next  week,  and  the  next,  and  the  next  ?  I  know 
some  of  the  benefits  carry  over;  with  very  intense  competition,  however,  I 
fear  we  get  the  golden  egg  but  kil  the  goose.  We  hav  much  competition  of 
one  kind  or  another  in  our  room,  so  you  see  I  am  not  wholly  opposed  to  it. 
We  hav  row  competition  one  day,  girls  against  boys  the  next  day,  A  Class 


24  The  Normal  School  Quarterly 

against  B  Class  the  next,  etc.,  but  usually  with  student  teachers  to  help  the 
slow  ones.  By  changing  the  various  groups  that  compete  day  by  day,  we 
prevent  intense  desire  to  beat.  Children  lern  that  advancement  by  beating 
themselvs  deservs  more  praise  than  beating  a  room,  that  "70"  for  one  is 
more  creditable  than  "100"  for  another.  But  the  point  I  want  to  make  is 
that  if  we  ar  our  brother's  keeper,  we  shall  want  to  help,  not  beat  our 
brother.  I  know  competition  is  a  natural  instinct;  so  is  self-preservation, 
the  first  law  of  life,  a  nativ  instinct.  But  how  proud  we  all  wer  when  the 
men  in  the  Titanic  disaster  controled  this  instinct  with  "Women  and  chil- 
dren first !"  So  with  the  instinct  of  competition.  If  we  ar  going  to  teach 
the  affirmativ  answer  to  that  age-old  question,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?" 
we  must  use  competition  discreetly  and  teach  children  to  help,  not  defeat 
their  weaker  brothers. 

Let  me  illustrate.  Some  time  ago  we  found  at  least  twelv  pupils  who 
could  not  write  large  numbers,  or  subtract  if  the  minuend  had  many  zeros 
in  it.  I  gave  a  test,  and  twelv  or  more  faild.  I  said,  "I  cannot  teach  you 
these  simple  things.  You  must  get  help  outside  of  study  periods."  I  said 
I  would  giv  another  test  in  a  few  days.  A  number  of  the  previous  failures 
made  100  on  that  test.  As  I  read  these  grades  of  100  receivd  by  pupils  who 
before  had  receivd  zero,  various  pupils  stood,  radiant  with  plesure,  and  told 
how  they  had  helpt  others  to  improve.  It  was  hard  to  tel  which  was  hap- 
pier, the  child  who  had  taught  or  the  child  who  had  been  taught. 

I  believ  that  teachers  often  hav  all  the  happiness  in  the  schoolroom; 
and  because  they  render  most  of  the  servis  and  do  most  of  the  achieving, 
nothing  is  left  the  child  but  the  doing  of  set  tasks.  Children  should  be 
given  opportunity  to  help  one  another,  and  had  I  time,  I  could  giv  many 
illustrations  of  ways  in  which  children  can  help  each  other.  Occasions  come 
when  student-teachers  ar  with  their  pupils  in  the  recitation  room,  in  the 
offis,  and  in  the  rest  room.  The  teacher  must  of  course  use  judgment  here 
as  in  all  things,  so  as  not  to  allow  this  work  to  interfere  with  regular  work. 

Before  I  pass  on  let  me  giv  one  more  illustration  of  how  a  child  can  be 
his  brother's  keeper.  One  recess  Marion  came  to  me  radiant  with  happi- 
ness, saying,  "Oh,  come  see  what  Robert  has  done!"  When  I  went  into  the 
recitation  room,  I  found  Robert,  Marion's  pupil,  just  as  happy  as  his 
teacher,  for  he  had  succeeded  in  the  great  achievement  of  writing  5,000,- 
000,000,000.001  correctly.  Both  boys  were  happy  because  they  had  satisfied 
two  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  human  happiness;  namely,  achievement  for 
Robert,  and  rendering  servis  to  another  for  Marion.  But  you  ask  what  has 
this  to  do  with  disciplin,  which  is  my  topic?  Everything,  I  answer,  for  do 
you  think  these  boys  would  misbehave  when  school  cald  if  their  lessons  and 


Disciplin:     The  Cultivation  of  Self-Control  25 

their  teacher  wer  even  half  interesting?  No,  because  they  ar  in  harmony 
with  some  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  human  happiness,  for  love  of  servis 
and  love  of  achievement  ar  much  stronger  than  love  of  competition. 

One  more  principle:  Cooperation  is  civilization.  You  no  doubt 
recognize  the  source  of  this  principle.  I  thoroly  believ  in  it.  We  do  every- 
thing possible  on  the  cooperativ  plan.  We  hav  a  Board  of  Health,  an 
English  committee,  team  work  in  gymnastics,  group  work  for  many  lessons, 
group  work  in  gardening,  etc.  Thru  these  devices  the  class  ar  lerning  many 
things  which  they  must  practis  in  adult  life,  such  as  the  majority  rules,  all 
must  obey  orHsers,  offisers  must  do  their  duty. 

Many  occasions  arise  for  the  practice  of  cooperation.  The  children  ar 
lerning  to  sacrifice  their  own  desires  at  times  for  the  good  of  the  group,  etc. 
The  class  vote  upon  and  decide  everything  that  they  hav  judgment  to  decide. 
I  always  giv  aid  in  helping  the  class  see  the  points  of  advantage  and  disad- 
vantage when  they  ar  preparing  to  vote  on  a  question.  All  of  this  coopera- 
tion and  group  work  makes  the  room  a  democracy  insted  of  an  autocracy. 
The  best  civilization  means  democracy.  But  the  teacher  must  watch  the 
pulse  of  her  class  as  a  skilful  surgeon  watches  the  pulse  of  his  patient  to  see 
that  democracy  does  not  overstep  the  line  and  become  anarchy.  Better  an 
autocracy  a  thousand  times  than  chaos. 

I  hope  you  do  not  feel  I  hav  not  held  close  to  my  subject  of  disciplin. 
But  I  interpret  disciplin  in  its  broad  sense  to  mean  all  training.  Disciplin 
as  punishment  seldom  enters  into  our  room.  I  say  very  harsh  things,  but  do 
little  punishing.  When  it  is  necessary,  I  lash  a  pupil  with  my  sharp  tung, 
which  is  like  a  two-edged  sword ;  but  I  do  little  else. 

Let  me  summarize  these  principles,  which  ar  only  a  part  of  the  prin- 
ciples that  form  the  basis  of  my  teaching : 

( 1 )  The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard,  and  the  wages  of  sin  is  deth. 

(2)  The  innocent  suffer  for  the  guilty. 

(3)  /  am  my  brother  s  keeper. 

(4)  As  a  man  think eth  in  his  hart  so  is  he. 

(5)  Cooperation  is  civilization. 

These  laws  ar  never  given  undiluted  and  ar  seldom  servd  the  same  way 
twice.  Like  the  French  chef,  I  mix,  season,  garnish,  embellish  as  the  time, 
occasion,  my  humor  and  surplus  energy  find  necessary  and  possible.  Some- 
times I  succeed;  but  many  days  as  I  go  home  at  night,  I  feel  that  on  the 
morrow  I  must  make  a  change  in  the  day's  menu. 

ILLINOIS  PRINTING  CO.,  DANVILLE,  ILL. 
(31134-3500) 


3  0112  105727322 


